Corrugated board manufacturers often use a paper roll having a hollow core as a starting material. These rolls are usually placed on a loading plate that supports the paper roll as it rests on the ground. A caliper inserted into the hollow core of the paper roll then lifts the paper roll off the ground and places it into a roll stand. The paper is then fed into a machine for manufacturing corrugated board.
Before the caliper can be inserted into the hollow core of the paper roll, the core must be aligned with the caliper. However, the paper rolls used to manufacture the corrugated board may vary in thickness, so the core of the paper roll is not always aligned with the caliper. Hence, it is often necessary to slightly adjust the position of the paper roll in order to line up the core with the caliper. As a typical paper roll is large and may weigh several tons, it can be difficult to manually manipulate the position of the roll, even if only a few inches of adjustment are required.
To align the core of the paper roll with the caliper, a power-assisted device can be used to nudge the paper roll. A known device 100 for doing this is shown in FIG. 1. The device 100 has a wedge-shaped base 270 with a rubber grip surface 140 on the bottom that is intended to securely maintain the device stationary with respect to the ground as it nudges the paper roll 295. A nudging plate 240, having a free end 210 and a pivoted end 220, is pivotally attached to the base 270 by the pivoted end. The pivot 230 attaching the nudging plate 240 to the base 270 is positioned at the lower end of the base. A hydraulic or pneumatic actuator (not shown) is located inside the base 270. The actuator exerts a force on the nudging plate 240 in order to cause the nudging plate to pivot. As the nudging plate 240 pivots, the nudging plate in turn exerts a force on the paper roll 295 that causes the paper roll to roll away from the device 100.
As shown in FIG. 1, the pivot 230 in the known device 100 is positioned in such a way that the free end 210 of the nudging plate 240 travels through an arc in a counterclockwise direction. It is important to recognize that this configuration also causes the paper roll 295 to rotate in the same counterclockwise direction as the free end 210 of the nudging plate 240 when the paper roll moves away from the device 100 due to the force exerted on it by the nudging plate.
This configuration of the known nudging device 100 has several negative consequences. One negative consequence is that the friction created by having the free end 210 of the nudging plate 240 travel through an arc in the same circular direction as the paper roll 295 rotates frequently causes the paper comprising the surface of the paper roll to be damaged. Another negative consequence of this configuration of the known device 100 is that it tends to shoot backward, away from the paper roll 295, when the nudging plate 240 exerts force on the paper roll. This tendency to shoot backward occurs despite the rubber grip surface 140 on the bottom of the base 270 and reduces the ability of the device to effectively nudge the roll 295.
Thus, there is a need in the art for an improved nudging device that would decrease damage to the paper comprising the surface of the paper roll while effectively nudging the roll without slipping backward.